I Will Dress You In Silver
by Lamia of the Dark
Summary: For the HPFC Character Playlist challenge. A collection of 20 unrelated song-inspired oneshots and drabbles. Aftersex moments between our favorite Dark couple. (The M rating is mostly for sexual references/language in the first few chapters.)
1. Like an Insect

**DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.**

**A/N: Every chapter in this collection will be an unrelated oneshot. Song influence will be noted at the end of each chapter.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(Like an Insect)

"Were you pleased?" he asks, afterward.

She is quick to offer praise, but what she _doesn't_ do is tell him what he wants to know - namely, whether she got off. He suspects that she did not, and his suspicion is confirmed when her litany of compliments fails to include anything about her own pleasure.

Once it seems that she is finished speaking, he says, "But did you come?"

She won't lie to him; she knows he despises lies. Neither does she want to tell him the truth. Her silence is answer enough.

As eager as she was, she should have been easy to please... and seeing as he'd failed at it, then how bad at sex _was_ he? Had all of his previous bed partners been just as ill-pleased and simply afraid to upset him by admitting so?

Such disturbing thoughts as these keep him awake long after he sends his current lover away.

~1/20~

Inspiration for this chapter is "Sehnsucht" by Rammstein. The full line from which the chapter title is derived is _Sehnsucht versteckt sich wie ein Insekt._ (Longing stings like an insect.)


	2. I Stand Not Crawling

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(I Stand Not Crawling)

Afterward, when she is asleep in his arms, exhausted both physically and emotionally... this is the time - the _only_ time - that he can be gentle with her. He wipes away her tears, then presses a kiss to the hollow of her throat, allowing his lips to linger against the soft skin there.

He holds her tenderly for a few moments before lifting his wand from the nightstand and using spells to clean the sweat and other fluids from both of their bodies. He does not erase the signs of his violence from her skin. He will need the reminder later.

Before he settles down for the night, he wakes her and tells her to sleep on the floor, as is her place. She complies without protest.

~2/20~

Inspiration for this chapter is "Not Falling" by Mudvayne. (Yes, it's a bit of stretch to take the meaning as not falling in love, but...)


	3. Your Lips Are Venomous

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(Your Lips Are Venomous)

She reaches out for him but stops before her fingers can make contact with his skin, and draws her hand back. She wants nothing more than to snuggle up to him, to share body heat during the night, to feel safe...

But there is no safety in his arms. He is temperamental at best, intentionally cruel at worst. He rarely allows her to kiss him on the mouth and he does not tolerate cuddling.

_He_ _treats_ _that damn snake better than he treats me_, she muses bitterly to herself as she gets up from the bed. She doesn't know why he insists that she stay afterwards, when he doesn't care for the closeness of another body pressed against his while he sleeps. Besides that, he's a blanket-hog and she is tired of lying awake shivering beside him night after night.

After she cleans herself up and gets dressed, she curls up on the rug in front the fire instead of returning to the bed. And if he doesn't like it, too bad. She spent too many years in Azkaban to willingly suffer any more nights of not being able to get warm.

~3/20~

_ I want to hold you but I'd better not touch._  
_I want to kiss you but your lips are venomous poison. _-Groove Coverage, "Poison"


	4. A Tired Song Keeps Playing

**A/N: Please keep in mind that this is NOT a single coherent story and every chapter takes place in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(A Tired Song Keeps Playing)

He must be building up a tolerance, since - although he is rather exhausted - he does not pass out immediately afterward this time.

She always leaves while he is asleep - most likely under the assumption that he would send her away, were he conscious.

Currently she is lying half on top of him, her body sprawled awkwardly across his, her breath coming in ragged gasps as she tries to pull herself together. After a few long moments, her breathing steadies and she disentangles her body from his. He wants to stop her from leaving but he can't seem to find his voice to tell her to stay or the strength to make a move.

She gets up. He hears a faint clicking sound as she picks up her wand from the nightstand, the soft murmur of her voice as she casts cleaning spells, the whisper of fabric against skin as she dresses herself.

Before she leaves, she comes back to the bed and checks to make sure that he is asleep. He is certain that she must not realize he is actually awake when she leans down and presses a soft kiss to his forehead. She would not dare such a thing were she aware that he is conscious. Pity that she doesn't realize her boldness may be rewarded rather than punished if she were to attempt it. Having no one that he can treat as equal is beginning to get tiresome.

"Goodnight, my lord," she whispers. She says it for herself, he knows, because it isn't truly meant for him to hear.

She straightens up and turns to leave. He almost calls out to her. She lingers in the doorway a moment; he wonders whether she heard the hitch in his breathing just now.

Then she is gone.

~4/20~

_I think about you all the time,  
__But I don't need the same._  
_It's lonely where you are._  
_Come back down_. -Goo Goo Dolls, "Name"


	5. To See if I Can Catch a Dream

**A/N: Please keep in mind that this is NOT a single coherent story and every chapter takes place in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(To See If I Can Catch a Dream)

She starts to get up from the bed, but he stops her with an arm around her waist and pulls her back down to lie against him.

"Stay," he says - as though the command were not rendered redundant by his actions.

As her body relaxes into his, she asks him, "Why?"

He knows she will not disobey him, but that she would dare to question his orders - even in so intimate a setting - angers him.

"Because you're mine, and I told you to," he snaps.

She sighs heavily in response. "Yes, that's why I'm _going_ to stay. But why do you _want_ me to?"

The answer to that question does not come as easily to him... and when he finally speaks, the only thing that he can bring himself to say to her is, "Be quiet and go to sleep."

~5/20~

This chapter is inspired by "She Had The World" by Panic! at the Disco. (There were too many relevant lyrics for me to pick a single section to quote.)


	6. You Will Never Belong To Me

**A/N: Please keep in mind that this is NOT a single coherent story and every chapter takes place in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(You Will Never Belong To Me)

She lies awake beside him, wondering why things turned out this way between them. Perhaps if she had not been so quick to fall into his bed all those years ago, she would be something more than just his mistress now. If she had not been so starved for affection back then, if she had resisted his advances - at least at first... would things be different now? If she had played hard-to-get in the beginning, would she now be standing at his side as his Dark Lady rather than being kept like a shameful secret?

Ah... but the past is already set in place. She can't change the choices made by her younger self. And if she wishes to remain close to him now, if she desires some semblance of affection, then letting herself be used like this is the only option open to her.

~6/20~

_Like a leech I hold on, as if we belong to some precious pure dream_. -Chevelle, "Closure"


	7. Disappointed

**A/N: Please keep in mind that this is NOT a single coherent story and every chapter takes place in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(Disappointed)

At first she thinks he is purposely denying her pleasure while taking his own.

She learns that is not the case on the third night she spends in his bed, when - instead of going to sleep immediately afterward - he snuggles up to her, offers her a few perfunctory compliments while scattering light kisses over her shoulders, and then proceeds to blatantly fish for praise. She can't think of anything positive to say which he would not recognize as evasion or an outright lie...

"Bella? Are you asleep?"

_Shit_. She's taken too long to answer and now he's going to be suspicious about her silence. Perhaps she should say something to throw him offtrack?

"Yes," she replies sarcastically. "I'm asleep."

He lets out a snort - sounding half-amused, half-annoyed - and shifts position so that he is holding her more comfortably against him, before inquiring, "Why didn't you just answer my question before?"

Ah, here is an answer she can give truthfully.

"I couldn't think of what to say," she says. "... or how to phrase what I did want to say."

He seems to accept that answer, as he does not speak again immediately, and after a few long moments his breathing begins to even out and his limbs loosen in sleep. Now that his grip on her has slackened somewhat, she can escape if she wants to. But _this_ isn't the part that's bad. He hasn't ever told her to leave afterward, and she enjoys being cuddled, sleeping next to him, waking up beside him in the morning... She just has to decide whether enduring the lackluster sex is worth it for everything else that comes with these encounters.

~7/20~

_Don't you want to hold me, baby?_  
_Disappointed, going crazy._

-Serj Tankian, "Sky is Over"


	8. Your Sad Eyes Take and Own Me

**A/N: Please keep in mind that this is NOT a single coherent story and every chapter takes place in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(Your Sad Eyes Take and Own Me)

He wakes to the sound of her crying out in her sleep. The sound is not quite a scream, not quite a sob, and entirely disturbing to hear. He does not know whether to wake her or attempt to comfort her while she still sleeps.

Before he has a chance to decide, she startles into wakefulness on her own. Panicking, she scrambles away from him, her mind still half-caught in the events of her dream. In the dim light, he can see tears streaming down her face.

"Nightmare?" he asks, putting a hand to her cheek. His other arm is wrapped firmly around her waist and is the only thing that prevented her from falling off the bed in her earlier panic.

His touch pushes the last remnants of the dream from her mind and she looks down at him. Her tear-blurred gaze missing the worry that shows clearly in his eyes, she looks down to where her hands are splayed upon his chest. Her arms are tensed, elbows locked in a straight position, holding herself as far away from him as his restraining hold on her waist will allow. As she stares, he lifts his hand from her cheek and wraps his fingers around her wrist. He gives a gentle tug, unbalancing her and causing her to fall against his chest.

He waits for her to shift into a more comfortable position from the one she has fallen into, then enfolds her in a tight embrace.

"Go back to sleep," he says.

"I can't," she whispers.

"Of course you can."

"But I don't want to."

Because when she goes back to sleep, the dreams will still be there waiting for her. She thought her nightmare would be over once she was out of that hellish place, but her mind finds its way back there almost every night and it seems she will never truly escape...

"You don't know what it's like," she continues, and her voice is so low that were her mind not fully open to his, he would likely not hear enough of what she is saying to be able to understand it. "Being in that place for so long... and now that I'm out, I still can't get _away."_

"You forget," he says, "that I existed in a nightmarish state myself for nearly as many years." He pauses to let the full implications of that sink in. "And yet when you are with me, I have never dreamed of my memories from that time."

His words, however, do not have the intended effect. Instead of being soothed, she tenses as she realizes that by letting her nightmares send her fleeing from his bed in the middle of the night, she has often condemned him to suffer his own.

~8/20~

Song inspiration for this chapter is "Nocturnal" by Eve 6.


	9. Is Your World Just a Broken Promise?

**A/N: Please keep in mind that this is NOT a single coherent story and every chapter takes place in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(Is Your World Just a Broken Promise?)

They are losing the war, she knows.

After his resurrection, the Dark Lord has become more violent, more unstable, more single-minded. She stays at his side anyway. She lets him take out his frustrations on her - encourages him to do so, even.

She knows they are losing the war, and all of his promises about the future are lies. But even if there were a way for her to save herself, she would still choose to stay. Not that there _is_ any way to save herself - she is in too deep. There isn't much left of her "self" that could be saved, either. There is perhaps a single spark of light within her soul, and if it were enough to save either of them, she would still choose him over herself.

~9/20~

Song inspiration for this chapter is "Let It Burn" by Red.


	10. I Need Serenity

**A/N: Please keep in mind that this is NOT a single coherent story and every chapter takes place in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(I Need Serenity)

They keep coming back to each other, although neither of them really take pleasure in the act anymore.

They keep trying to recapture a half-remembered emotion - the sinful joy of slaking a forbidden lust - both forgetting that they burned out on that feeling long ago, before their minds became too broken and their hearts became too twisted to appreciate the emotions that should accompany physical intimacy. The feelings they now harbor for one another are black and poisonous, remaining unvoiced in favor of bland praise.

These encounters leave them feeling scraped hollow, rather than being fulfilled. Yet still they keep trying, scrounging for shards of the past, searching for ghosts of each other within their present selves - looking for a sense of peace which they will never find.

~10/20~

_Where do we go when we just don't know?_  
_And how do we relight the flame when it's cold?_  
_Why do we dream when our thoughts mean nothing?_  
_And when will we learn to control?_

-Godsmack, "Serenity"


	11. Death Wont Hold You As Tight As She Will

**A/N: Please keep in mind that this is NOT a single coherent story and every chapter takes place in its own separate universe.**

**WARNINGS: This chapter is more sexual than previous chapters, and contains dub-con elements.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(Death Won't Hold You As Tight As She Will)

He is addicted to her.

Before he falls asleep he tells her to stay, because he knows he will want her again when he wakes. She murmurs her assent as she snuggles against him. She lays her head on his chest, over his heart, and is asleep almost immediately. Pure male pride flares in his chest at her state of exhaustion - proof that his lover is well pleased.

He slowly comes back to consciousness from the depths of a long, strange dream. She is still beside him on the bed, as promised. She is laying on her side facing away from him. Earlier she fell asleep cradled in his arms, but now there is not a single point of contact between their bodies. Seeking to remedy this, he slides his arms around her waist and draws her body against his. Damp tangles of hair tickle his face as he nuzzles her shoulder. She must have gotten up sometime while he was asleep to bathe. As his hands begin to roam her body, he notices that she did not bother to put on any clothes after she cleaned herself up.

Her skin is warm under his fingers despite her unclothed state. The texture is smooth and soft, and even though he has already had her this night, he finds himself wanting to touch and kiss every inch of her. He can feel every one of her ribs as he slides his hands along her sides. He presses soft kisses to the back of her neck as his palms close over her breasts.

He knows the exact moment when she awakens. She exhales sharply and her muscles tense. He murmurs her name; not a second later, her body relaxes into his.

"Not that I'm complaining about you touching me," she says, sounding irritated despite this proclamation, "but couldn't you have woken me up first?"

~11/20~

Inspiration for this chapter is "Her Portrait In Black" by Atreyu.

(Yes, I realize the chapter title in the dropdown menu is missing the apostrophe. It was one character too long and I didn't want to choose a different lyric for the chapter title.)


	12. Baby, When I'm Yelling At You

**A/N: Please keep in mind that this is NOT a single coherent story and every chapter takes place in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(Baby, When I'm Yelling At You)

"So eager to leave me..." he comments dryly as she slips from the bed afterward.

"No, my lord, no," she protests. "I don't want to-"

"Then get back in bed."

She hesitates to follow the order. He notes her conflicted expression but does not allow it to sway him. He glares at her and repeats the command. Yet still she hesitates.

"What are you waiting for?" he snaps, opening his arms to her in an impatient gesture.

It is this action more than anything that undoes her. She sighs as she crawls back into bed beside him. He grins and wraps her in a possessive embrace.

"Fine," she murmurs, snuggling against him. "You win. But if I piss the bed, it is _entirely_ your fault."

~12/20~

This one is inspired by the song "Not Your Fault" by AWOLNATION.


	13. You Whisper Life Into My Soul

**A/N: Please keep in mind that each chapter exists in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(You Whisper Life Into My Soul)

"I lo-" She catches herself before the rest of that forbidden admission can slip out, coughing to cover her blunder. She then pulls away from him and says pointedly, "I'd like to get cleaned up now, if you don't mind."

She half-expects him to protest, but he allows her to slide from his arms with only minimal resistance. She gathers up her clothes and disappears into the bathroom, leaving him alone to wonder if she had _really_ just almost said what he thought she almost said.

He picks up his wand from the nightstand and casts cleaning spells on himself and the sheets, making ready for her return.

The water runs for a long time - longer than usual, he thinks - before she emerges.

"I... should probably go," she says hesitantly, edging toward the door.

"Stay."

She seems surprised by the command but does not argue, just begins to undress.

"Nevermind," he snaps, temper flaring. "Just get out!"

_No,_ he tells himself as she hastens to depart, _of course she never (even accidentally) almost said such a thing_...

And he should not have gotten up his hopes of ever hearing it.

~13/20~

_All this time I tried to sing a song that my ears had never heard with words I could not speak_. -Close Your Eyes, "Paper Thin"


	14. You Send Me To A Broken State

**A/N: Unlike all previous entries, this chapter is directly related to one of the others. It is the Bellatrix Version of chapter 13.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(You Send Me To A Broken State)

"I lo-" She catches herself before the rest of that forbidden admission can slip out, coughing to cover her blunder. She then pulls away from him and says pointedly, "I'd like to get cleaned up now, if you don't mind."

She half-expects him to protest, but he allows her to slide from his arms with only minimal resistance. She gathers up her clothes and disappears into the bathroom.

_Stupid,_ she berates herself as she cleans all traces of him from her body. _I can't believe I let my guard down like that, that I almost **said**_...

Tears begin to fall as she thinks of what would happen if she were to confess her feelings to the Dark Lord. She leans against the shower wall and sobs quietly as she imagines all the ways in which he would cruelly taunt her for her affections. Their private encounters would be forever tainted by his knowledge of her feelings, devoid of the pleasure she previously experienced. When angered, he would publicly mock her in front of the other Death Eaters - _"What's wrong, Bellatrix? You don't 'love me' enough to complete your mission successfully?"_ \- and the heavy sarcasm lacing his tone as he mocks her feelings would cut deeper than any knife, hurt more than any Cruciatus Curse.

She is long done washing herself but she leaves the water running until her dark imaginings have run their course and begin to repeat themselves, at which point she can push them away from the forefront of her mind, and her tears have run out.

Still emotionally shaken but as ready to face him again as she will be this night, she quickly dresses and slips back into the bedroom.

He looks up at her from his position on the bed, still splayed out and relaxed after their previous activities, his body exhibiting just the slightest bit of tension. That red gaze burns into her, bringing all of her insecurities crashing back down.

"I... should probably go," she stammers out, edging toward the door.

"Stay."

She is surprised by the command but does not dare argue, just begins to undress.

"Nevermind," he snaps, and she flinches. "Just get out!"

She doesn't need to be told twice.

~14/20~

The song inspiration for this chapter is "SOS (Anything But Love)" by Apocalyptica. The entire song fits their relationship rather well, I'd say.


	15. Are You Feeling Fine?

**A/N: Please keep in mind that each chapter exists in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(Are You Feeling Fine?)

One last time, one last night together before the Final Battle...

Even calling it that is too generous. A few stolen moments is all they have together, a brief flash of time in which she helps him prove to himself that he is indeed still alive. The act itself is hurried and unsatisfying.

Afterward, when she is leaning against him, not quite recovered enough to stand on her own, she says, "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but..."

She pauses, gathering courage for her confession, and in that small space of time - the space between breaths - a thousand thoughts crash through his mind, wondering what she will say, how she will criticize him and tell him that his plans are doomed to fail, that his death is imminent...

"I love you," she whispers.

And in the next instant, before he has a chance to process what she has told him - much less respond to it - she is out of his arms, slipping away to where the rest of his soldiers wait.

When he next has time to spare a thought for her, it is already too late.

~15/20~

_She said, "Loving you made me happy every day."_ -L'arc~en~Ciel, "Feeling Fine"


	16. Too Damn Real And In The Present Tense

**A/N: Please keep in mind that each chapter exists in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(Too Damn Real And In The Present Tense)

As he sleeps, she buries her face against his chest and whispers her words of love, hoping he will not hear them but needing to say them for her own peace of mind. If she doesn't empty her heart of all the things that he never wants to hear (and would not understand, anyway), she will slowly go insane.

He wakes, not alone, yet feeling somehow bereft. A sliver of moonglow invades the room through a crack in the curtains, highlighting the tear track on his companion's exposed cheek. Her other cheek is pressed to his chest, over his heart. And that should be significant somehow, he knows, but he can't think of why.

Why did she stay if it makes her miserable enough to cry, and why does he feel so lonely while she is still here?

~16/20~

_Well, do you ever get the feeling that the story's_  
_Too damn real and in the present tense?_  
_Or that everybody's on the stage, and it seems like_  
_You're the only person sitting in the audience?_

-Jethro Tull, "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day"


	17. a tiny sunshine

**A/N: Please keep in mind that each chapter exists in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(a tiny sunshine)

She'd gone into this expecting him to be rough, possessive, maybe even violent. She'd held no hope for tenderness, knowing that their tryst was meant to be only an intermingling of bodies and not an entwining of hearts.

Afterward, as she is held captive in his arms while he sleeps, she marvels at just how wrong her expectations had been. He'd touched her as if she were fragile, not allowing himself to lose control until she'd pleaded for _harder, more_.

She had expected him to dismiss her when the deed was done, but he'd held onto her as if she were a prized possession he couldn't bear to let go even in slumber.

Beforehand she'd promised herself that she would harden her heart to him and not allow this encounter to breed any further attachment, but as she lies here in his arms now, she wonders if affection is what he was actually seeking. As vocal as he is in his scorn of love, perhaps it is what he truly needs...

~17/20~

This chapter is inspired by "a tiny sunshine" by Yuki Kajiura. (It is an instrumental from the soundtrack of _Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle_.)


	18. Bite Into Me Harder

**A/N: Please keep in mind that each chapter exists in its own separate universe.**

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(Bite Into Me Harder)

He doesn't understand her desire to be dominated, injured, abused, _owned_. He always thought that those who craved _love_ would seek softer emotions in their prospective partners - tenderness, comfort, affection, and such. However, it seems that this is not the case with Bellatrix.

But he doesn't need to understand her violent desires in order to indulge them.

She finds joy in the certainty of being completely and utterly his. He can be what she needs him to be without allowing even the smallest scrap of himself to become _hers_.

~18/20~

This chapter is inspired by the song "Flesh" by Simon Curtis.


	19. All of Your Edges

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(All of Your Edges)

Afterward, once he is asleep, she slips from the bed and goes to the bathroom to clean herself up. She would prefer not to leave, of course, but this is The Way Things Are. If there's one thing she's learned about being a Death Eater, it is to not question The Way Things Are.

She gives all of herself, body and soul, to her master. Her life is pledged to his cause, and will be forfeit at his whim. Her heart, as much as he does not want it, also belongs to him in its entirety.

She survives on scraps, taking any bit of praise or moment of physical contact she can get. But she is careful not to overstep her bounds even in such intimate situations, for she is ever fearful of bringing her lord's wrath down upon herself.

~19/20~

Song inspiration for this chapter is "All of Me" by John Legend.


	20. Blood Is the Rose of Mysterious Union

~ I Will Dress You In Silver ~  
(Blood Is the Rose of Mysterious Union)

"Stay," he says.

Just that one word. _Stay_.

The tone in which he says it is hardly commanding, his voice a whisper with no bite of authority behind it. One who did not know him as well as she does might even be tempted to interpret it as a request. But the Dark Lord does not _request_ anything of anyone. When he wants something done, he gives orders. His minions obey, or face his wrath.

There has never been an order that she was happier to follow. (Not even _kill them all_, which is one of her favorites.)

"As my lord wishes."

~20/20~

Song inspiration for this chapter is "Peace Frog" by The Doors.


End file.
